The Stars Have Fallen
by Skyler99
Summary: A magic that bends reality. A magic that twists emotions. A magic that threatens the whole of Fairy Tail. And its first victim is a certain blonde mage. What will she do when her own magic is the one that threatens to kill her?  *some OC villains*
1. Punished Princess

**A/N: **Writer's block is killing my fics! I have 3 that need to be finished and 3 new ideas waiting to be written. Hope writing this one will help me get over this funk.

GrayLu if you wanna look at it that way, and hints of LoLu to come.

* * *

><p><strong>ONE: <strong>Punished Princess

The ground felt cold against his bare skin—coldness unlike the one he was trained to endure. It was almost as cold as the expression the woman sported. Her soulless eyes turned crimson, and he felt as though his torso would be sawed in half. The jagged stones buried themselves deep into his ribcage, prompting him to let out a grunt of agony.

"Gray!" a familiar voice echoed from behind him.

"Stay back, Lucy!" he yelled. "You won't stand a chance without your magic. Besides, I don't think… you have the heart to hurt her."

The stellar spirit mage stifled a sob as she let her hand, which had been hesitantly gripping the handle of her whip, fall weakly to her side. She turned her misty gaze towards the woman, trying to find the tiniest hint of her former friend through those bloodshot eyes. She found none.

"Hey, Lucy," Gray suddenly called out to her. "Get outta here! Run while she's still busy with me."

"A Fairy Tail mage never leaves behind a comrade!" she said with all the determination her shaky voice could muster. "Hear that?" she asked, turning to the woman. "One way or another, you're a part of the guild too, aren't you? So, please stop this!"

Her pleas fell on deaf ears though. The woman brushed a few stray strands of her pink locks from her face, the chains on her wrists rustling as she did, and shot Lucy a blank expression.

"Give it up!" Gray said. "Whatever happened, it must have been pretty bad for her to ignore her own master. Forget me and…" He trailed off when he felt himself sinking deeper into the ground. The stones ripped open more wounds on his sides, and his face was the only thing that has yet to be swallowed up by the soil.

"Gray! No! Virgo, please! Stop this!"

"You… shall be punished," was her only reply.

"Punish me all you want, but don't hurt my friends. I…" The blunt end of the maiden's chain cut the mage's statement short. Lucy reeled in pain and was forced down on her knees. Another blow sent her, face first, into the ground.

"If you care so much about your 'comrade', suffer the same fate as him, _Princess_," Virgo dryly declared. "Spica Sinkhole!"

The earth beneath her turned soft and Lucy's body was literally being absorbed. The more she struggled to get free, the faster she sank. Not content with merely burying her alive, Virgo wrung one of her chains around her master's neck and proceeded to strangle her.

"Vir…go…"

"A punishment befitting of you, Princess," the stellar spirit mocked. "Go on, cry for help. Brother Leo won't come to your rescue. No one will. We are all no longer yours to do with as you please. Let us end the contract, Princess, once and for all."

"Is…this…really what you want, Virgo?" Lucy struggled for words in-between choking gasps.

"If I did not want this, I would not be doing it."

"No! You…don't want this, Virgo. You don't…want any of this. You…could never hurt your master. That's… why you…couldn't hurt Duke… Everlue no matter… how horribly he…treated you."

"You're just a puppet! Can't you see that?" the ice mage interrupted. Staying conscious had clearly become an endeavour for him.

"A puppet? Wasn't I a puppet to begin with? I am a stellar spirit—nothing more than a puppet that can't do anything without a master pulling the strings. What am I supposed to understand from your statement?"

"You're not like this! No one among you is like this! You all love Lucy and Lucy loves you just as much, maybe even more. You hurting her… It's just not right!"

"I am…" Virgo's concentration began to waver, and the ground loosened its grip on the two mages. That momentary lapse of magic was all Gray needed to encase the stellar spirit in ice. With his hands free, he began to materialize his magic seal and shape the ice crystals.

"Now, Ice Make… Cannon!"

Having knocked the maiden out, Gray ran over to a barely conscious Lucy and cradled her in his arms. "Lucy, wake up! Hey, Lucy! Damn, no good."

A sadistic laughter filled the air, looming over them like a plague. It was a man, clearly no one they knew from the sound of his voice, and he paused as if to consider his words.

"We can bend space. We can bend emotions. We are invincible! Fairy Tail shall now start on its downward spiral into oblivion! And the first to fall shall be you two! What are you gonna do, Mr. Fool-buster? That girl is a dead weight now that we've warped her spirits' thoughts and feelings. This whole area we made allows them to materialize even without her; amazing, isn't it? To be killed by your friend's own magic, how ironic!"

"Shut up!" Gray snapped. "You twisted bastards! Using Lucy's own spirits against her, that's just sick. Stop being cowards and face us!"

"Now, now, I'd stay calm if I were you. You never know who might be watching."

Suddenly, something shot through the air and pierced the ice mage's left shoulder. He pulled it loose and realized it was an arrow. His reflexes kicked in and he used his body to shield Lucy's as more arrows came raining down, and a sequence of anguished groans resounded all throughout.

The man burst into another fit of sadistic laughter. "See what I mean? We make the rules around here. And we say: If you wanna fight us, take out all of her pathetic spirits first. You've done in the masochistic maid, so there's only nine more to go. Nine amped up spirits left."

"Amped up?"

"You'll know what I mean. Horsie's waiting for you, Mr. Fool-buster." With that, his voice disappeared.

"Damn it," Gray grumbled, "this was supposed to be another ordinary mission. How the hell did it turn out like this?"

* * *

><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED<strong>


	2. What Are You Aiming For?

**A.N.**: If you think the spirits are too OC, please remember that their thoughts and emotions have been twisted by the villains. Anyway, thank you to everyone who took the time to read the first chapter. Thank you to those who faved, reviewed, and put this on alert. You guys rock! XD

Here's the next installment. Hope all the talking don't bore you to death. I swear, Sagittarius is seriously chatty when his mind's messed up. Chatty, and full of angst.

* * *

><p><strong>TWO: <strong>What Are You Aiming For?

It would have been one of the easiest requests they could have ever gotten: Take two young mages back to the guild to discuss a possible membership. Lucy, ever worried about paying her rent, decided that fetching two teenagers was an easy way to make some money. Seeing as Erza and Natsu were away on a mission of their own, Gray willingly offered to accompany her.

They didn't talk much on the train. It never occurred to them how awkward the atmosphere could get without the uproarious Dragon Slayer to distract them. A couple of attempts were made to start a conversation, but it always ended with both of them looking out the window to contemplate on how much of a failure those attempts were.

And when they finally arrived at their destination, located the house specified on the job post, and met the two hyperactive mages, it should have been a smooth sail back to their guild. Yes, it would have been one of the easiest requests they could have ever gotten, but then…

"Hello there. I say, aren't you even going to try to run away?" the archer asked, scratching at his horse head in confusion as he materialized before them.

"I won't get far in this condition. Besides, who'd run away from a weirdo like you?" Gray answered.

Sagittarius snorted, then grinned. "What's this?" he asked, extending his right hand into view. "Empty right? But what's this? Oh, it's an arrow! Hello there!" The motion was so fast it was a blur. An arrow was already halfway between them when Gray realized what happened. Barely able to react, the best he could do was block it with his bare arms.

"Dammit, you horse freak!" Gray blurted out as the projectile pierced deep into his flesh. "Is it just me or have you gotten faster?"

"Hello there! Here's more!" The stellar spirit proceeded to send a salvo of arrows at him. One by one, they impaled him, and his body was dyed crimson with his own blood. When he finally fell down onto his knees, Sagittarius ceased the onslaught. "Hello there, still alive? Seriously though, aren't you even going to dodge some of them?"

"If I dodge them, Lucy would be left defenseless. So, no, I'm not going to dodge them, bastard!"

"Why are you so desperately trying to protect her?"

"Because she's my friend! Friends look out for each other; that's one of the most basic unwritten rules of friendship. You understand that, don't you? You're her spirit, after all."

"That girl…" A hint of resentment adorned the spirit's voice as he spoke. "That girl was never my friend."

"Never?"

"Let me tell you something about Lucy and the other spirits." The archer's voice had completely lost its carefree tone. It had become serious, even sad. " Aquarius, Cancer, and Taurus have been with her the longest, even before she became a part of Fairy Tail. Having previously belonged to her mother, they share more history with Lucy than any of us. She met Virgo in Everlue's mansion, and received her key after the Daybreak incident. Since then, the _Maiden_ has always looked after the _Princess_. She saved Leo from his exile and his untimely death. Now, that guy's eyes turn into hearts at the mere mention of her name. Aries, Gemini, and Scorpio chose Lucy to be their master after she freed them from Angel. If you ask them, they'd say it was Lucy's kindness and genuine love for all spirits that won them over. Finally, there's Capricorn. She may not have directly saved him from his possessed state, but it was her that gave Leo the motivation he needed to win. Besides, Capricorn was supposed to have been hers when her mother died."

"Where are you getting at?" Gray wondered.

"There's a reason why the others fell into Lucy's possession, and that reason is usually what makes their relationship with her deep."

"So?"

"Don't you see!" the spirit snapped. "I was merely a reward, a hand-me-down, given in exchange for saving a couple of worthless demons from the 'Curse of the Moon'. I have nothing that makes me special, nothing that attaches me to her in any way. I am just a weirdo wearing a horse costume who shoots metal toothpicks at my master's enemies. I can't call myself her friend; I'm just…"

"Pathetic," Gray said, cutting him off. "That's what you are, pathetic."

"Don't talk like you know how I feel!" He sent an arrow plunging into the mage's leg. He shot another but purposely allowed it to only graze the side of Gray's head.

"I still think you're pathetic," the mage remarked, flashing a wide grin. "Know why? 'Cause you're so jealous of the others sharing those kinds of moments with Lucy that you don't even realize one of the most important things about friendship."

"And what would that be?"

"You don't need any drama to call yourself someone's friend. So what if Lucy only got you as a prize? It doesn't make you less important than a spirit that's been passed down to her. Come on, you're just being an idiot. Lucy treats all her spirits equally. You should know that more than me, but here I am lecturing you. Geez, you really are an idiot!"

"Shut up! I…"

"What the hell? This is boring!" the voice of a woman suddenly said. Both men quickly shifted their attention to the blonde who was kneeling beside the unconscious stellar spirit mage.

"Wait a minute! Lucy?" Gray's eyes widened in shock when he saw another Lucy poking the unconscious one's cheek.

"Eh, this is boring," she repeated. "I thought Sagi would be able to finish you off already, but he's too busy being a drama queen." An aura of hatred and despair emanated from the Lucy standing before them. Her lips curled into a frown as her eyes fell upon the archer.

"What are you doing here?" Sagittarius asked. "I thought we agreed that it was one at a time, no getting in each other's way?"

"I got bored," the sombre blonde replied. "Now, let me play with him, Sagi."

"Beat it, you copycat! This is…" His words became muffled when the Lucy look-alike wrapped her whip around his mouth in one swift motion. She reached for one of the arrows embedded in Gray's body and roughly pulled it out, eliciting a pained bellow from the mage. Before Sagittarius could finish freeing his tangled jaw, she hurled the arrow with such force that it effortlessly pierced the archer's chest

"You can disappear now. Bye, bye, Sagi." the other Lucy said in an eerily monotonous voice. Sagittarius started to disintegrate, and the blonde imitation turned her attention to the blood-drenched ice mage. "Now you play with me, Gray…"

* * *

><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED<strong>


	3. To Be or Not to Be Somebody

**A/N: **Again, thanks to all the readers, reviewers, and favers (if that's even a word, lol). Next chapter is up.

Just saying: GEMINI CAN BE SO DAMN CONFUSING SOMETIMES. A pair of alien-like things who can transform into just about anyone? I was going "He, she, they, it… Gah! What pronoun do I use for you?"

Anyway, on with the story. Hope you guys like it.

* * *

><p><strong>THREE<strong>: To Be or Not to Be Somebody

"Processing Lucy's thoughts…" the look-alike began. "Gray Fullbuster: handsome, strong, hot abs, and the stripping habit is a bonus. Teehee!"

The ice mage's cheeks turned crimson upon hearing the description. He was about to say something when a loud voice boomed from behind him.

"What!"

The blonde imposter and the raven-haired lad both turned their attention to a rather flustered Lucy struggling to get to her feet.

"And what's with the 'teehee'? I do _not_ teehee! If you're gonna impersonate me, at least do it right!" she fumed.

"Oh," the imitation sneered, "I see. I forgot you like doing this for your male patrons."

As soon as the last word left her mouth, the pink blouse she wore was quickly pulled upwards and bare flesh greeted their eyes. Blood came surging towards Gray's face and threatened to make a rough exit through his nostrils. He quickly turned his head away and frantically tried to hide his face, which had turned ten different shades of red. A shocked Lucy could only let her jaw slack in mixed horror and embarrassment as the imitation burst into a fit of sadistic laughter.

"You should see your face, Blondie! Oh wait, you _can _see your face. Silly me."

"Gemini, you pervert! Cover them this instant!" demanded the irate stellar spirit mage.

"Fine, fine. Geez, you're such a nagger. I guess you'd prefer being beaten by this face," the 'Lucy-clad' Gemini said as a shroud of light enveloped her.

When the light had dissipated, she, or rather he, had taken on the form of an all-too-familiar young man with wild black hair. He sported a smug expression on his face.

"What's the big deal?" Gray blurted out as cleared the last remnants of Lucy's exposed bosom from his thoughts.

"What's wrong? As if you've never looked in a mirror before," Gemini taunted. "Ice Make…"

"Shit! Lucy, get down!"

"…Lance!"

The frozen spears just barely missed their mark as Gray tackled Lucy to the ground at the last minute.

"What's this? Can't you wait for us to finish playing before you start topping her, Gray?" the stellar spirit commented snidely.

"Shut up, you sick pervert. Ice Make, Hammer!"

"Ice Make… geez, this is so boring… Shield!" A cocky grin spread out across the spirit's face as Gray's attack instantly shattered upon contact with the shield. "Give it up, Gray. I'm more powerful now, and those wounds aren't giving you much of an advantage either. If you were with someone else, I might actually be in trouble, but you're stuck with Miss Boobs-for-Brains over there."

"Insult me all you want… but don't talk about Lucy like that, you ungrateful bastard! Lucy's done so much for you guys; she's shown you o much love. And you repay her with this?"

"G-Gray…" The blonde mage was suddenly rendered speechless by Gray's words and actions.

The sound of Gemini's laughter resounded throughout the area." Ungrateful, you say? I have every reason to be ungrateful. Lucy's no different from Angel and all the other stellar spirit mages I've had the misfortune of working with."

"Don't say that," Lucy pleaded, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "The last thing I want to be is…"

"Zip it! I don't care about what you think. Our game became boring so fast, it's such a bummer. Well, you take what you get. Let me show how strong I can really be! Leo can't even compare to this."

The stellar spirit was swallowed up by an intense light once again. When the radiance had dispersed, two identical pink-haired males were standing side by side where the Gray imitation had once stood.

"Fire…" the first one said.

"…Dragon's…" the second continued.

"…Roar!" they shouted in tandem.

A stream of fire shot out from each of their mouths and combined into a torrent of rabid flames. Having no time to erect a barrier, Gray swiftly positioned himself in front of Lucy and acted as a human shield. The intense heat seemed as though it would burn the skin on Gray's unclothed torso off, but he remained resolute on protecting the defenseless blonde. When the flames finally died down, the ice mage tottered violently before collapsing and losing consciousness.

"Gray!" Tears flowed freely down Lucy's cheeks as she took in the sight of her scorched comrade. She fell to her knees, overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness.

"Is that really all you can do?" Gemini asked. He had reverted back to his true form and was hovering inches from the weeping mage.

Lucy, teary-eyed and stifling her sobs, shot the twin spirits a confused look.

"Is that all you can do?" they repeated. "Are you just gonna cry?" When it became apparent that Lucy did not have an answer, they gently lowered themselves on her shoulders.

"What are you…"

"Hey Lucy, do you wanna know why we said you're the same as Angel and everyone else?"

She gently nodded her head in response.

"I am…" Gemi said.

"I am…" Mini followed suit.

"We are the Spirit of the Twins, Gemini. We can copy anyone. We can access their memories, their emotions, and their abilities. For a brief moment, we can actually step into their shoes and experience life the way they do, but… what about the real us?"

"What do you mean?" Lucy wondered.

"You mages only call us to have us transform into someone else. We are only wanted because we can be someone else. Nobody ever wants us because we're us. Nobody wants a pair of nobodies like us."

"Gemi…ni."

"We thought fighting Gray would help us discover who we were. We thought he'd come with some silly but meaningful banter like how he did with Sagi. That's actually why we broke the agreement and took out one of our own. But I guess no one can help us. No one can give us an identity."

She reached out to touch them but they flew out of her reach. "Hey, wait!"

"Sorry, Lucy. We never had any intention of fighting you, but it wouldn't be completely honest to say everything we did back there was just as an act. In the end, we only wanted an answer."

"An answer?"

"To the question that came with our existence—Who are we?"

And just like that, they disintegrated.

* * *

><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I** have to stop making all the spirits beat up Gray like that. XD

Yeah, not really one of my fave chapters, but at least it's not that bad. (It's not, right? :p)


	4. What Hurts the Most?

**FOUR:** What Hurts the Most?

"I wish I had Wendy's powers right about now," Lucy said as her eyes fell upon the barely breathing ice mage. A tear escaped her eye, and it was quickly followed by another. The next thing she knew, she was on her knees, beside the half-conscious lad, pouring out her emotions. "I'm sorry, Gray."

"Don't… cry," Gray hoarsely mumbled. "The last thing… I want… to see you do… is cry."

"But I…"

"No, you gotta… be strong, Lucy. There's still… seven more to go."

"But I can't do this!" she cried out. "My spirits... are hurting. Their minds might be twisted, but those feelings must stem from something, right? I never even noticed that they had those kinds of problems. What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to face them?"

No words came forth from Gray's mouth. Giving the blonde mage a false sense of hope wouldn't do them any good. She knew as well as him that their chance of making out of that predicament was second to none. He silently prayed for a miracle as he allowed his consciousness to leave him.

"Gray! Hey, this is no time to sleep! Gray!"

No amount of nudging could wake him up, so she eventually sighed in resignation. She tore part of her skirt and wrapped it around the profusely bleeding wound on his shoulder. She lied down beside him, resting her head on his chest and wrapping her arm around his waist.

"Too bad you can't hear me but I'll say it anyway. If I'm going to die here, I'm glad I could die with you. You've always been looking out for me, and you've always made me smile. I wish I had more time. I want to do a lot more things with you. I still wantto see you fight with Natsu, break into my apartment, get stalked by Juvia, accidentally strip in public, become an S-class mage, and a whole lot of other things. I…"

"I can't take it anymore!" a loud voice suddenly pierced the air, prompting Lucy to jump to her feet and pull out her whip.

_That voice, _she thought. _That voice can only be…_

Two hands materialized from behind her and latched onto her wrists. She tried to squirm free but found herself being overpowered and forcefully turned around.

"You're cruel, Lucy. You're too cruel," the stellar spirit remarked. "How could you do stuff like that when you know I'm watching?"

"I wasn't doing anything bad! And how was I supposed to know you were watching?"

"That's not good enough! What am I to you Lucy? Huh?"

"You're my friend! All of you are. So please stop this and come back already! I need you guys."

"You… need us? You need _me?_ Since when did you become such a liar?" he asked, glaring daggers at her.

"I'm not lying! Let go of me already, Loke. You're hurting me."

"No! I'm not letting you go, ever. You say I'm your friend? You say you need me? I say you're lying! And don't talk to me about getting hurt. The way I see it, this pain I'm causing you right now can't even compare to the pain you give me."

"What in the world are you talking about? I've never hurt you. I've…" Her statement was cut short when she was harshly slammed to the ground.

"Again with the lies? You've hurt me a lot Lucy," the orange-haired boy said as he made a pained expression. "I give you all my love but what do I get? I get to see you flirt with some other guy! I know it sounds selfish, but seeing you happy with someone else is really painful. What does that stripper have that I don't?"

"A sane mind!" she screamed. "Snap out of it, you idiot. What happened to my prince charming? My knight in shining armor? I thought you were always going to protect me."

"Why should I protect someone who makes me feel like trash? All I wanted… was for you to love me."

"But I do love you, you idiot!"

"Lie after lie… Can't your mouth produce anything but lies? I've had enough of…" The sharp sensation of her hand on his cheek stopped him from finishing his statement. His gaze lost all traces of hatred as he looked at her, utterly bewildered.

"Stop calling me a liar 'cause you and I both know I can't lie about my feelings."

"Lucy…"

"Do you know the feeling of a star that has lost its place in the sky? You asked me that question once, didn't you? Well, even if you lose your place in the sky, there's always going to be a place for you in my heart. So... please give me Loke back!"

The tears came welling back up as she fell to her knees. The stellar spirit froze, not knowing what to do. If he wanted to, he had the perfect opportunity to attack. She was completely vulnerable, but a voice kept tugging at him at the back of his mind. It kept asking him the same question over and over—_What are you doing?_

He knelt before the sobbing blonde, his hand gently grabbing the base of her chin and tilting it upward till their eyes met. He had removed his sunglasses, so Lucy could clearly see the tears clouding the spirit's eyes. His face took on a different kind of pained expression—one of guilty agony. Before she could say anything, his arms suddenly wrapped themselves around her and pulled her up against his body. He gently nuzzled his head against her collar, and Lucy felt something moist against her skin.

It was his turn to cry.

She let one hand rest on his head, fingers intertwined with his orange locks, while the other gently stroked his back, sending a silent command to not hold anything in.

"L-Lucy, what's… going… on?" he softly murmured. "Everything's spinning. I know I hurt you, and I'm really sorry, but I don't know why I did it."

"Loke…"

"I'm angry at you, but I don't know why. My head keeps telling me I should attack you, but my heart keeps trying to hold me back. I'm… really confused."

"Fight it, Loke! Some strange magic is making you do this. If you can just fight it…"

"Please close the gate before I do something unforgivable."

"I wish I could, but I didn't summon you so I can't force the gate to close. Just… stay strong Loke. I need you. I don't think I can fight the other six spirits on my own."

As if on cue, pink clouds started swirling around them, filling the area like a thick fog.

"I knew she wouldn't like it if I hugged you like this," Loke said, slowly breaking the embrace.

"She? You mean…"

The clouds began clumping together, encasing the lion spirit's body until the only part left uncovered was his head.

"So soft… My eyes are getting heavy… Sorry Lucy, I need to… take a nap."

"Hey, wait! Don't fall asleep! Loke!"

She tried to reach out and pull him loose but the pink lump suddenly shot into the air and landed several feet away from her. The fog around them started to clear, revealing a pink-haired woman in a white wool dress. She took her spot beside the sleeping spirit, affectionately brushing away the stray strands of his hair before turning her gaze towards Lucy.

"I'm sorry," she spoke out, "but Leo is mine!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I smell a catfight brewing in the next chapter. Oh yeah, the two sleeping beauties are gonna wake up soon as well.

November's creeping up fast, and that means I'll probably be too busy with NaNoWriMo to update my fics. Sorry to those who look forward to this; I might have to make you wait a whole month. But don't worry, I'll post two or three chapters the next time I update this one. Well, till then! Wish me luck with my novel. XD


End file.
